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Part 4: The Fine Print
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The 57 Bus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender and Sexuality
Adolescent Crime vs. Adult Crime
Binary Thought and Inclusive Language
Discrimination and Social Justice
Accountability, Redemption, and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
Nancy O’Malley can’t say for sure why her office withdrew Richard’s original offer. “It keeps getting continued and continued and continued and the result is that he sits in our facility without having meaningful treatment,” she explains. O’Malley says that it is clear, “unfortunately,” that Richard needs “a structured environment.”
O’Malley’s withdrawal of Richard’s original offer for no reason reflects the system’s institutionalized racism. If Richard is in prison, then he is removed from society, and this is the “structure” that O’Malley refers to.
Themes
